Question: Should the PTO pay a Vendor service tip?

We recently held a Holiday dance for our middle school students. We hired a DJ for the services. The contracted amount was for $400.00. However, the President of the PTO also paid a $40.00 tip. I was not aware of this transaction till after the fact. He claims that 2 other Board members approved it on the spot (they happened to be there), whereas I and another Board Member were not there. I feel that we are non profit organization and we should NOT be giving out tips. I appreciate your comments. Also, would like to find some supporting claims via internet, if anyone can find it.

Asked by rjmat

Answers:

Community Advice

mum24kids writes:
I don't understand what being a nonprofit has to do with giving a tip. If your group went out to a restaurant, and the PTO was footing the bill, would you not leave a tip for the waiter and tell him it was because you were a nonprofit? Or if you order pizza for an event, and the pizza guy comes and delivers it, do you also not tip him?

We do generally tip service providers, and almost always manage to get a receipt for the tip as well.

If you're looking for the protocol on tipping DJs, I think it depends. Like most other services, if the owner of the company is providing the service, then generally you don't tip. I know that in our area for DJs at weddings, they generally expect a tip, so I would think the expectation is the same for other events. For the school dances I have run, I have not tipped the DJ--because either the company owner was the DJ, or the DJ was only average at best. But for a Girl Scout dance, the DJ was awesome and I did give him a tip.